


entwined paths

by AbsoluteTempest



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 05:16:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14073675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbsoluteTempest/pseuds/AbsoluteTempest
Summary: Aichi thinks he missed his last chance; the mates give him one more





	entwined paths

Aichi steps outside Card Capital, opening up to the city and to the night sky above.

It’s a beautiful night; it’s chilly but it is starting to get warmer. April is coming around the corner and his last year of high school is starting soon. 

He feels like it was just yesterday that he started his first day of high school.

Aichi glances behind him, looking back into Card Capital. He told the others that he needed fresh air, but really his stomach was in knots. A lot of things are going to change by the time classes start up again. 

Misaki, Miwa, and Kai have graduated. Misaki and Miwa are sticking around here to go to college, but he feels a slight wave of sadness not being able to see Misaki at school.

However, his stomach does flips when he thinks about Kai.

Kai isn’t staying around here for college; he will be traveling abroad to Europe to participate in the pro leagues. He laughed when he found out he is going to be living with Gaillard for a year (they already gotten into a few arguments about living arrangements) and the butterflies in his stomach appeared when he first heard Kai speak a few sentences of French.

Aichi swallows thinking about those butterflies.

It was just when they played Vanguard at first, but after Kai brought him back and things returned to normal, he realized that he got them whenever they were close to each other. He had brought this up one day, chatting with Misaki, and Miwa who was waiting for Kai. 

He was embarrassed when Miwa had laughed so hard Misaki made him sit outside for 5 minutes so he didn’t disrupt the other customers.

“Aichi, do you not realize what this means?” Miwa had said, slinging his arm around Aichi’s shoulder. “You have a deep burning crush on Kai.”

He gets flustered even thinking about it. But even though Miwa had been a bit over dramatic then, he wasn’t wrong.

He had long since controlled the butterflies and stopped being flustered even seeing Kai. He never acted on it though; time with him and Kai alone was scarce, and even when there was time, he always found himself hesitating.

Aichi glances behind him again, looking into Card Capital. Kai is going to Paris tomorrow and everyone decided to throw a going away party. It had to be a surprise, for they knew Kai would deny needing a party. It was the last day, though, that everyone would be together, so a surprise party they threw. 

When he had left, Morikawa had challenged Kai to Vanguard, and while Kai accepted, he also found it a perfect time to show off the casual French insults he learned from Gaillard.

Deciding that he had enough fresh air, he turns to walk back inside but the door flies open, and Miwa is pushing Kai out the door.

“Oh hey Aichi! Perfect timing, we’re getting out the big surprise! Will you keep him company while we get it out?” Miwa says, giving Kai one final shove towards Aichi.

“How many surprises do you have planned for me?” Kai asks. He’s giving off an unimpressed look, although Aichi can see that he’s trying not to smile.

Miwa laughs and shrugs. “Who knows how many we have? Just sit tight out here!” Miwa walks back inside.

As the door closes, Aichi realizes what Miwa meant.

He’s out here.  
Alone with Kai.

He can feel the butterflies already.

The two of them lean against the tree close to the shop and it is Kai that breaks the silence.

“Do you know what the big surprise is?” he asks, taking a drink from the soda can that he brought out with him.

“Maybe.” Aichi smiles. They had spent all day at his house making a huge cake for Kai. Their first attempt had ended up in a disaster, as not only did Miwa throw in some questionable decorations on the cake (“we’re supposed to be celebrating happy memories you idiot!”), but Morikawa and Kamui had got into a shove fight and smushed the cake.

The second attempt went a lot better, once they banned Kamui and Morikawa from the kitchen and took the red icing from Miwa. 

Kai had made cakes for everyone for their birthday, turning down anyone’s attempt to make him a cake for his birthday. He couldn’t stop them this time.

Kai smiles into the can. “I’m sure it will be good then.”

Aichi gets the urge to kiss that smile off his lips but he pushes it down. “I still can’t believe you’ll be leaving tomorrow.”

“Aichi, we both know that our paths will surely cross one day.” Kai rests his hand on Aichi’s shoulder, making it feel like it was on fire. “Plus we have the Mates’ chat.”

Aichi laughs thinking about the Mates’ chat. They had created it after everything had happened and they kept it to the six of them. There were already some pretty good memories on there, from Kai and Naoki playing a game of Vanguard through pictures and video, to Kamui catching Misaki and Miwa having lunch at a restaurant down the street. 

“You’re right, we do have the group chat. But...it still won’t be the same. I’ll...I’ll miss seeing you.”

Kai turns away, humming in what Aichi thinks is in affirmative. He moves his hand away and wraps both hands around his soda can. If Aichi wasn’t looking up towards him, he wouldn’t have heard Kai even speak.

“Kai, I can’t hear you.”  
Kai sighs. He turns towards Aichi, but his eyes are staring down into his soda can. Is he...pouting? “Come visit me. I mean, if you want, you can come visit me. I don’t think Gaillard will mind at all.”

Aichi can’t help but smile. “I would love to come visit you! And Gaillard too of course. I’m sure I can come see you during summer break.”

Kai smiles back. It’s not a smug smile either; it is a soft, earnest smile. “I’ll look forward to it Aichi.”

The butterflies are there in full force, but Aichi is tired of hesitating. He knows that they’ll be apart for so long, that they won’t be able to play Vanguard as often as now, that there may even be some days where Kai is too busy to talk. But…

“Kai.”  
Kai raises an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“I…”  
Aichi breathes in…  
Breathes out,  
And clenches his hand.  
“Kai, I really--” 

“Oi, Aichi! Kai!” The door of Card Capital swings wide open and Naoki steps out. “The big surprise is all set up! You should come back inside!” 

Aichi wishes at that moment he could melt on to the sidewalk.

“O-Oh...looks like your surprise is ready. Is it okay with you if we go back inside?” Kai asks.

Aichi realizes that Kai is being polite but the momentum is already ruined. He forces a smile on his face despite wanting to lay down on the sidewalk. “Yeah it’s fine. I know you’ll really like it.”

Aichi’s smile turns real as the two of them get back inside, and watches Kai smile and chuckle at the cake sitting in front of them.

“You didn’t have to go all out on it.”

Aichi was secretly glad when Morikawa and Kami had ruined the first attempt, because he really loves how the second attempt came out. The red icing looks really nice against the white cake, and his smile grows as he sees the silly cupcake toppers with cat faces. 

“Those were last minute,” Aichi mutters. They had saw them this morning while getting party supplies and they couldn’t help but throw them in with everything else.

“It’s okay, they look nice.” Kai looks towards everyone else. “Thank you everyone.”

“It was Kamui’s idea.” Naoki blurts.  
Kamui frowns, but he has a slight blush to his cheeks. “Don’t go blurting embarrassing stuff out!”  
Kai laughs, his smug smile coming back. “Nice joke Ishida.”  
“Hey!” Kamui crosses the room and glares up at Kai. “Look, the cake you made for me last time was really good so eat yours before I do!”

“Okay, okay,” Miwa stands between the two of them. “Look, let’s eat the cake before it gets mushy, we spent a while making it.”

Kamui crosses his arms and looks away. “Says the person who tried to make Li--”

Miwa shoves his hand against Kamui’s mouth. “Cake sounds really good right now! Let’s eat some cake.”

Aichi stifles a laugh as Miwa pushes Kamui over to the cake, as Kai looks on with a look of confusion on his face. He looks up when he feels an arm go around his shoulders, and sees Misaki looking at him with a small smile.

“Oh, Misaki…”  
“Naoki interrupted you out there, didn’t he?”

Aichi suddenly finds that his shoes are interesting. “U-Um...yeah, he did.”

Misaki sighs and shakes her head. “Do you want me to give him an earful?”

“No,” Aichi shakes his head, and tries his best to put on a genuine smile. “It’s okay Misaki. I’m okay with our relationship being like this.”

It’s a lie and Aichi knows it, but he also knows that he’s missed his chance.

“If that is what you say,” Misaki says, giving him one last pat. He realizes that she doesn’t believe him.

Aichi goes home that night with a hole in his heart and butterflies in his stomach.

♣♣♣♣

“Aichi wake up!”

He moans, rolling over in his bed. Was it time for school already? “Emi, give me...5 more minutes…”

“Aichi this is something more important than school! Get up now!”

He sighs, turning on his back. “Emi...what can be so important that you wake me up so early...let me sleep…”

He hears mumbling then footsteps.

“1…”  
He ignores her.

“2…”  
He pauses. That didn’t sound like Mom or Emi. Who else could it--

“3!”  
Aichi feels two arms lift him from the bed, carrying the blanket with him. He flings open his eyes and finds Naoki, complete with baggy eyes, smiling down at him. “N-Naoki?!”

“Whoa, you’re a lot lighter than I thought.” Naoki shifts Aichi around in his arms. “Anyways, Aichi! I’m really sorry!” he buries his head into the blanket that Aichi has wrapped around him. “I didn’t realize what was going on, I didn’t mean to interrupt you!”

“He says he stayed up all night because he was afraid he’d sleep past his alarms.” Aichi turns and finds Kamui standing in the doorway with Emi; he realizes it was him who he had heard before Naoki lifted him out of bed. “He’s running on two cups of coffee.”

“Okay, um, I’m awake, why are you both here in my house?” Aichi glances at the clock. “Guys it’s almost 7 in the morning.”

“I let them in because I heard from Misaki how hopeless you are.” Emi sighs. “You have to get dressed quickly! Before Kai leaves for Paris!”

“Eh?!’  
“I won’t let you miss your chance because of my mistakes!” Naoki says, a little bit too loud in his ear. He sets Aichi back down on the bed. “We have to be there by 7:30 before you lose your chance.”

The butterflies are coming back.

“Okay, I get what’s going on now please everyone get out of my room so I can get dressed.”

♣♣♣♣

Aichi forgot that Misaki is an incredibly good driver.

The five of them are all crammed into the van, barrelling down the highway at a fast but still legal pace. He was given a hot cocoa and some doughnuts (he wonders how Ratie is doing), watching Misaki weaving between traffic.

“Asshole,” she mutters at the car in front of her as she has to slam on the breaks, her arm flying over to the passenger seat where Miwa is sitting.

“Aww, Misaki,” he says. “You’re protecting me,”

“N-No,” she says, looking a little flustered. “Actually it’s because that’s where Sub-manager’s crate goes when I take him to the vet.” 

“Wow, turns out the cat is more important than you Miwa,” Kamui says, snickering into his cup of hot cocoa.

He stops laughing when Misaki shoots him a glare in the rear-view mirror. 

Miwa sighs as he takes a bite of his doughnut. “Okay so I managed to get Kai’s plane info so I think we should look around close to the gate.”

“Should we split up? It might make looking for him easier,” Naoki mutters from the backseat. Aichi hopes the cup he is holding isn’t his third cup. 

“Unless I can’t find a parking space fast enough, then yeah, but I think we just stay together, at least until we find him.” Miwa pauses as he helps Misaki with directions, then shoots a smile at Aichi. “Got to give some space for stuff like this you know?”

“Miwa!” Aichi grumbles.

“Aichi,” Kamui leans onto him. “If Kai is mean to you, I’ll beat him in Vanguard.”

“You’re acting like Kai hates him,” Misaki says. “The worst he’s going to do is apologize and say no.”

“Kai won’t say no.”

There’s silence in the car, everyone turning to Miwa as he casually finishes off the doughnut he was eating.

Aichi is turning ten shades of red. “W-What?”

“Do you know something we don’t?”  
“Nope!” Miwa smiles. “I just have a good set of eyes. You really think I don’t notice the way he looks at you Aichi?”

The butterflies in his stomach grow and flutter.

♣♣♣♣

Aichi is thankful when they find a parking space in a short amount of time.

However, when they realize they only had 10 minutes left, they start to run.

“Boss Lady! I can’t feel my legs!”  
“We don’t have time to stop, Kamui drag him along.”

Aichi doesn’t mean to run fast, but he finds himself going ahead of everyone else.

He thought he missed his last chance; he told himself that he was okay with Kai leaving Paris without telling him how he felt.

But the others gave him one more chance and he wasn’t going to waste it.

Aichi runs into the airport, with Miwa close on his heels. “Miwa, where are we going?”

“We have to go to the other side of the airport and descend the escalators.” Miwa coughs as he catches his breath. “That’s when they start the security checks that we can’t get through unless we have a ticket.”

The other three enter the airport behind him, Kamui and Misaki dragging Naoki by the arms. 

“Aichi...don’t let me drag you down,” mutters Naoki, who looks like he’s falling asleep. “You should go ahead, we can catch up.”

“He makes a point, you need to go before you lose your chance,” says Misaki.

The others nod towards Aichi in agreement.

Aichi nods back. “Okay, I’ll go! Thank you!”

He runs through the airport, weaving through the crowd. The butterflies grow and grow. He’s been waiting for this for a long time; he wants to wrap his arms around Kai, run his fingers through his hair, taste his lips.

He remembers what Miwa said in the car and he starts to wonder how long Kai has liked him, if he does. Was it within the past year? Was it when he had sealed himself and Kai did everything within his power to free him? Or perhaps it was on the rooftop during the Link Joker Invasion?

He wonders if Kai wants to do the same things; wrap his arms around him, kiss him, hold on to him like he’s never letting go.

Aichi finds himself reaching the escalators and looks in the room beyond. He scans frantically, and then he sees him.

Kai.  
He’s standing up, stretching, getting ready to leave. He’s taking one last drink of his coffee cup.

Aichi finds himself yelling his name before he even realizes it.

“Kai!”

He feels complete relief when Kai hears him, looking up towards him. Eyes wide, he gives Aichi an awkward wave.

Aichi gives him the biggest smile, and immediately pushes his way down the escalator, muttering apologizes. His eyes don’t leave Kai at all.

“Kai.”  
He stops for a moment, catching the breath that he had been holding for so long.

“Aichi, what the hell are you doing here?” Kai says, but he has a smile on his face.

Aichi breathes in  
Breathes out  
He’s done hesitating.

He reaches up and cups Kai’s face in his hands. He wants to look away in embarrassment, but instead, he looks right into his eyes. “Kai, can I kiss you?”

He watches Kai’s eyes widen, and for a moment, Aichi is afraid that Kamui’s words could be true. His heart melts, however, when Kai gives him a soft smile, reaching up to touch Aichi’s hands with his.

“It depends...I’m not going to get interrupted again by Ishida, am I?”  
“No. He’s currently running on no sleep and three cups of coffee.”

Kai laughs, which makes Aichi smile even more. “Well then, Sendou Aichi...please kiss me all you want.”

The two meet each other in the middle, and Aichi finds himself kissing Kai. 

The first kiss is awkward, bumping noses, and yet he can feel himself melting. He tastes the coffee that Kai had just finished on his lips. 

Aichi’s kissing Kai. He’s really kissing Kai.

Aichi pulls away to catch his breath but Kai chases after him, pulling him into another kiss. It’s less awkward now, more deep. He knows people are staring but for the one and only time, he doesn’t care. 

They pull away for a moment to catch their breaths. “Kai, I’m going to miss you so much.”  
“I’m going to miss you too Aichi.”

They delve into smaller kisses, mumbling things between each one.  
“Text us when you get there.”  
“I will,”  
“Be safe.”  
“Mmmhmm.”  
“Send me a lot of pictures of Paris.”  
“I’ll post them in the group chat.”

Kai gives Aichi one last deep kiss, and Aichi jumps when Kai briefly slips his tongue in his mouth. 

“Jerk,” Aichi mutters as he feels his ears turn red. 

Kai laughs, pulling away, but still holding on to his hands. “I feel like it was just yesterday when I met you again.”

“I feel the same way. It’s hard to believe I was so timid then,” Aichi says.

“You’ve grown so much.”  
“I can say the same about you.”

Kai’s eyes fall for a second. “I still regret...everything I did.” He squeezes his hands at this point. “But I’m glad that everything worked out in the end. That I can be here with you.”

Aichi smiles. “I’m glad too. I...I love you Kai.”  
Kai smiles back. “I love you too Aichi.”

They squeeze each other’s hands one last time before Kai pulls away. “I have to leave now for Paris. Will you message me if you can come visit me in August?”

Aichi nods. “Of course.”

They say one last goodbye before Aichi watches Kai walk away, towards the gates. He’s tired, his lips hurt, and he knows the buzzing in his pocket is their friends teasing them.

But Aichi can feel the butterflies soar.

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't posted a fic since middle school; shout out to my friends and my lovely partner for encouraging me to post again


End file.
